The beadles strive with all diligence to entitle themselves to the proffered reward; but, on the other hand, the students exert all their ingenuity to defeat the vigilance of these Arguses. In their behalf numerous persons are employed, who, through signs, give intelligence of the approach of the beadles, or, as they are termed by the students, Poodles. Amongst these, at Heidelberg, stands prominently forth the Red Fisherman, distinguished for his Herculean strength, and an inventive spirit not a whit inferior to that of Ulysses. That brown sunburnt countenance, whose features announce a rude bravery--that red hair--that solid build of limb--that mighty chest spread like the breastwork of a battery, and which the wide out-lying shirt is too proud to conceal, and the fantastic cap--the man is not a moment to be mistaken. He belongs to those creatures of the students which are to be found in every university city, and who, living by the students, are to them indispensable. So the Red Fisherman renders the most important services, both connected with the duels and otherwise. At night when the Lumpen-bell[20] sounds, he makes the round of the _Kneips_, and if he finds any of the sons of the Muses whose legs Bacchus has lamed, he throws one over each shoulder, like two sacks, and hastens with them to their lodgings. He is present at all Commerses and Comitates: like a true hound he partakes of all the enjoyments of his lords, and grimly defends them in their difficulties; as in the villages, where it often happens at the holding of a Commers there, that through their exuberant pranks they get into skirmishes with the peasants, who will assail them in troops with tremendous cudgels, and are, when their blood is up, on such occasions, merciless antagonists, beating, treading on, and even stamping on the faces of those whom they have knocked down. The Red Fisherman, in such emergencies, is another Ajax, and wresting their weapons from them, lays prostrate hosts of Bauers before him with their own cudgels. On all occasions he patiently bears the wanton whims and insolent humours of his own lords in their barley-cornish hours. On the other hand, the police treat him in trials and inquiries which come before the magistrates with all possible lenity and forbearance, as by his courage and skill in swimming he has already saved the lives of six or eight persons.